Digital graphic design, image editing, and video editing applications (hereafter collectively referred to as media content editing applications or media editing applications) provide graphical designers, media artists, and other users with the necessary tools to view, analyze, and edit a variety of media content. Examples of such applications include iPhoto®, Aperture®, Final Cut Pro® and iMovie®, all sold by Apple, Inc. These applications give users the ability to analyze and edit images and videos in a variety of manners. For example, some applications provide different graphical representations of the color values of an image (e.g., histogram representation, waveform representation, vectorscope representation, etc.) to show users the distribution of tones (luminance levels) or distribution of colors in an image. In addition, some applications provide a user interface that includes adjustment sliders and other tools for editing the image.
Many media-editing applications, however, do not provide intuitive color adjustment controls. For example, the user is required to have extensive knowledge about color editing in order to effectively use most of the existing color adjustment tools. Furthermore, the controls for adjusting different aspects of the color values of an image are dispersed in different locations of the user interface. These deficiencies cause unnecessary inconvenience in editing an image.